Lakewood Varsity vs Mayfair

The varsity has finally stepped up and won one for us and this was the game to win. Lakewood and Mayfair are rivals and play for the "Milk Bucket" each year. Lakewood has possed it for several years, that was until last year when they lost 41-42 in double overtime. So getting the Milk Bucket back was a big deal for the team and school. Our varsity went into this playing for keeps and played a tough game winning 40-3. It was good and well deserved win for them.


Now my son, who plays JV, was able to suit up with the varsity but even with this huge win he didn't get a chance to play. The second string didn't even get in until late in the fourth quarter when we had a 34-0 lead. I understand it's about the win, but you have guys that want the opportunity to play and be part of the team. My son spends every practice getting beat up and thumped by the first string offense, and he get nothing for it other than the opportunity to wear the uniform. For some that's sufficient, but my son, he want's to play and to have the opportunity to be a part of varsity.

Well, I'll step off my soap box and post some pictures of the action, but before I do let me say what my setting were. I did use a flash and had it set at 1/3 power, which allowed me to shoot continuisouly for a few shots before the flash had to recycle. My camera was set to manual at f/2.8, 1/500, and ISO 1600. I was very pleased with the shots I ended up with. So take a look and you be the judge.

And this was what the win was all about, the "Milk Bucket". Here is a partial team shot with the bucket.

And finally here is a shot of my son (right) with one of the first string defensive players he goes against each and every practice, and the bucket.

Lakewood JV vs Mayfair

Last night our JV team played against Mayfair High at Lakewood. Last year our freshmen team, which my son John played on, lost against Mayfair 7-14. This year was a completely different story. Our boys came to play and hit them hard. Our defense did a great job stopping their offense and even returned a fumble for a touchdown. Our offense did great as well allowing the second string to play quite a bit. The final score was 35-0. Now tonight our varsity will have a chance to redem themselves and retain the "Milk Bucket". Our varsity has lost their first two games this season and has lost against Mayfair last year losing the Milk Bucket.


Here are a few shots to share.

Lakewood Girls Varsity Volleyball at Gahr High

Today I was able to get out and shoot some volleyball. The Lakewood Girls Varsity Team have been playing in a tournament over the last few days and today was their last game. The game didn't start until 5:30pm so as soon as I got off work I went home, got my gear, and drove to Gahr High School. This was my first time shooting at Gahr H.S. and boy was I dissapointed. The lighting in the gym was terrible, one of the worst I've seen. I had to push my ISO to 3200 and shot manual at 1/400. This did make my pictures a bit dark but I needed the shutter speed to stop the action better.



I wasn't getting the action I wanted so I tried a few different shots. When you can't get the action you have to rely on the simple portrait type shots, but of course I had to add one action shot.

Lakewood Midget's vs Rancho Santa Margarita

I shot another midget game this last Saturday at Lakewood. Again I stayed away from the flash and shot all of these with an ISO of 1000 to 3200. I just adjusted it as the sun went down, which was pretty quick. Once again I used the 300 f/2.8L IS lens.

John in action vs Tesoro

Now for some shots of my favorite player, my son, during the Tesoro game.

A little background on the next couple of pictures. Lakewood's colors are Red & White, but last year they got a new head coach, "Coach Mac". Well this year he decided to get some new uniforms and as you can see below they are black. Now I really like these new uniforms but have heard that the alumni are really going to have some issues with these because they go against tradition. Well my son was told he was going to have to suit up for the varsity game. Now the chances of him playing were very slim but you just never know. Any 2nd / 3rd string player is just an injury away from playing.

His number for JV is 53 and he was lucky enough to get that number for the varsity game, so he is the first player to wear that uniform and number for the varsity squad. Not all that important but it means a great deal to me, as that was my high school number and he asked for it without any input from me. I'm just an excited dad.